The Forus FS2 Digital Voice Recorder is a great recorder for both voice and telephone recording as well as any audio recording over a mono audio line. The Forus FS2 can handle both the telephone recording and regular voice recording without much setup and includes everything you need.

The FS2 Digital Voice Recorder uses digital memory and has 4 GB of space for linear PCM audio recording with 4 folders and 24 to 270 hours of recording time depending on quality. You can record on low to ultra-high quality with 270 hours available on low quality and 24 hours 30 minutes on ultra-high quality.

The Forus FS2 voice recorder is 3/4 inch thick and about 1.5 inches by 3.5 inches with a 3/4 by 1 inch LCD display and has a small wrist strap loop on the back. The Forus FS2 comes with the recorder, a USB Mini-B cable, stereo audio cable, telephone connection cable, mono microphone, earphone, telephone recording adapter and a wrist strap.

Whats in the Box

The manual is an important part of the digital voice recorder so you can figure out how to use the recorder and understand the folder system. There are four folders that you record to and when you stop recording the recorder automatically goes to the next file number in the same folder.

Files are named using a date and time stamp that is easy to understand and is a common MP3 file format for easy use in computer programs. The files are easily found and moved around when you connect the recorder to a computer if you want to copy files.

The Forus FS2 has a low and high sensitivity setting for the microphone and can use the internal or an external microphone but it needs to be a mono microphone. The microphone connection is probably not set up for stereo which is why my two stereo microphones did not work but the internal microphone and the included mono microphone does work well.

Sides of FS2

The Forus FS2 is powered by 2 AA batteries that are also included with the recorder but you can buy a separate battery pack for additional recording time. I did some testing as well as let my wife loose with the recorder and after understanding how to use the recorder had no problems.

Switching between folders requires you to press the menu button first and then use the double arrow buttons to move between the folders. The various files that you have recorded are automatically added when you start a new recording in each folder and are available for playback using the play and stop button.

The red dot record button is easy to use and the side erase button with confirmation allows you to erase individual files or a simple process will delete all recordings and format the memory. The voice recorder can also record voice from your telephone with the telephone recording adapter to automatically record when a phone call is placed or comes in.

Headphone Microphone Connections

When you turn on the TOR or telephone operated recording the device will start recording whenever the telephone that is connected is used. You can also record from any audio device output to the input of the microphone but it will only record the mono track instead of stereo.

The voice recording is very good and when comparing it directly to a source like an MP3 music file and the same file recorded directly and recorded through the microphone there is little loss of quality. The recorder does an excellent job of picking up voices and the voice activated recording works very well along with straight recording.

I have tried several different situations like my wife recording quick notes at her day care to catch updates to their kids behavior to be transcribed to a computer later and the recorder works very well. I had no problems in all the testing I did and the recorded MP3 files are easy to manipulate and use in audio programs like Adobe Soundbooth.

The Digital Voice Recorder from Forus does an excellent job at recording conversations directly on the telephone and even with a device like my Verizon Wireless Home Phone. My home phone is a regular cell phone number on a device that simply uses wireless cell phone reception for my phone calls.

I had no problems recording conversations from cell phones and regular land line phones on the Forus recorder so it does add a great feature for home use as well as a digital voice recorder. Forus may not be a major brand but it gets the job done and makes an excellent note taking recorder or for recording conversations from your home phone.

I highly recommend the Forus FS2 Digital Voice Recorder as an excellent voice recorder with plenty of features that costs about $120.